Perceived Barriers and Drivers in Early-Stage Female Entrepreneurship : A comparative study of Germany and Sweden from a Micro-perspective

Sammanfattning

To date, even though women account for approximately 50% of all populations, they continue to be underrepresented in many areas of life, and particularly in business fields like entrepreneurship. And yet, female entrepreneurs create exceptional social and economic value. Why do these gaps persist, and why is entrepreneurial activity among women lower than among men? To scrutinise this matter, the study builds on present research and is guided by the following research question: “What are the perceived barriers and drivers of female entrepreneurs in their entrepreneurial journeys in Sweden and Germany?”. This degree projects takes an explorative approach from a micro-perspective, carries out analyses of the two countries and compares insights extracted from eight semi-structured interviews, four of them with German and four of them with Swedish established female entrepreneurs. Nine central themes emerged in the analysis: Autonomy, Fear of failure, Networks/external support, Customer networks, Family support, Role models, Bureaucracy, Gender and norms, and Discrimination. To sum up, the findings revealed that there were both similarities and substantial differences among entrepreneurs within and across countries. On the one hand, autonomy was a prominent driver for all female entrepreneurs. On the other hand, fear of failure had a varied influence on the participants,it appeared as less of a barrier to Swedish participants of the study than for the German interviewees. While networks emerged as a driver for both Swedish and German entrepreneurs, external support was more crucial Swedish respondents than for the German ones. Another strong driver of the females’ businesses was the establishment of customer networks, where the female CEOs particularly benefited from previous business contacts and established networks. Family support emerged as a strong driver for the Swedish entrepreneurs, compared to German entrepreneurs who found Role models as a driver instead. Furthermore, there was a difference between the experiences of Bureaucracy. The German entrepreneurs perceived the complexity with institutions as a strong barrier, compared to the Sweden entrepreneurs who experienced smaller issues with bureaucracy. In addition, Gender and norms was experienced as a barrier by all entrepreneurs, which shows that there are still unequal conditions and expectations between women and men in the entrepreneurial environment. Lastly, Discrimination emerged as a barrier for one Swedish and three German participants who have experienced at times intersectional discrimination through their entrepreneurial journey. These insights build on present research and shed more light on the challenges, difficulties and drivers of female entrepreneurs in a European context. Moreover, the paper provides practical recommendations to practitioners to mediate the unequal entrepreneurial conditions and helps aspiring female entrepreneurs.